1.6.2-Laissezferre
Brick!Club 1.6.2 I have a pile of work right now, but I can’t pass up this chapter. You see, this is the one where J/VJ shippers are having a field day. But I won’t do that, instead I’ll just highlight some passages regarding Javert’s character and be on my way to workdom. …this spy who could not lie, this virgin snitch… You could say that Javert was pure, not exactly innocent, but untainted when it comes to being a judge of people (or is that ironic?), or you could take it literally and say that the guy hasn’t had sex before. Now why would Hugo talk about the detective’s sex life unless it was crucial to Javert’s character? There’s textual backing for his being a virgin. "Monsieur le maire, you were unjustly severe with me the other day. Be justly so today." Well, aren’t you petty. He still hasn’t backed down from the Fantine incident, firmly believes that he was in the right in that moment but was wrong to suspect the Mayor’s identity. There was a theft, a wall scaled, branches of a tree broken. My Champmathieu was arrested. Suddenly possessive are we? IIRC, this air of possessiveness over Valjean shows itself again in later chapters. But if he calls Champmathieu “his” while fully knowing that the mayor is not Valjean, it goes to show that Javert has been fascinated by Valjean ever since he was a convict, and not only because he has somehow reappeared as the mayor. They go way back is what I’m telling. Javert began to laugh with that painful laugh that springs from deep conviction: “Oh, I’m sure!” Javert’s introductory description mentions him laughing, but it never really tells what Javert finds amusing. I’m assuming not much, so when he lets his guard down to laugh in this chapter (or was it a laugh of disgust?), my interest is piqued. They actually both laugh in this time, although Madeline was aiming for a dismissive laugh with a little mirth. And how long will the trial last? When you think about it, Valjean almost gives himself up in this scene. He’d told Javert that he had better things to do, but when Javert tells him when the trial will be, suddenly he’s all ears. Don’t give yourself away, brother. Javert, you deserve to rise, not fall. Never mind me, I’m just having Javert feelings because “If you fall as Lucifer fell, you fall in flames.” He literally and metaphorically falls wha how NO And those who call me ‘that mongrel Javert’ would be right! This one shows that Javert is entirely aware of what the others perceive him as. We’re made to believe that he doesn’t care, but maybe he isn’t completely unaffected. He certainly cares about his spotless image in this conversation. I simply request the dismissal of Inspector Javert. He speaks in the third person. Excuse me, I’m giggling here. Commentary Sarah1281 I’m sure hugo thinks Javert being a virgin is important but he also thinks it’s important to mention whether virtually every one of his female characters (and Enjolras and Valjean) are virgins and I can’t see how all of that is super-plot important. Unless he means to point out that they’re not all Fantine or Eponine (nothing is said about her having sex but she is not called a virgin at any point while Cosette is called one virtually every time she shows up so…) because they were good and had no sex.